CampusCompare is all about looking beyond the brochure. From the inside scoop from the students themselves, to dynamic media content, to the facts and figures, to our assistance tools, CampusCompare offers all the goodies you need without even leaving your home.  We truly are making it possible for cross-country campus visits to be a thing of the past, yet we understand that despite the current economic crisis and higher ticket prices, some of you may really want to do the college tour thing the old fashioned way and probably want to keep it cheap.  In order to find the perfect deal on how you can be leavin’ on a jet plane without breaking the bank, CampusCompare has stumbled across some sites to assist your travels. Even if your budget is ramen noodles, we’ve discovered some stellar sites that will help you find the fare that will make you feel like ordering filet mignon.

YAPTA:
Sure, your dog may have “eaten your homework” a few times when you’ve forgotten to complete an assignment, but when it comes to finding the perfect fare, YAPTA is a student’s best friend.  After entering the dates, times, and other personal preferences, YAPTA (aka Your Amazing Personal Travel Assistant) continuously searches for the lowest prices for your itinerary. The site alerts you when prices drop, but if you book and prices lower again, they’ll fill you in on how to get a ticket refund so that you are ensured the lowest possible price.

KAYAK:
Have you been studying up on your SAT analogy section yet? Well if so, give this one a shot.

CampusCompare: “That Big Fat Guidebook”  as Kayak: Searching Directly from the Airline.

Just like what CampusCompare does for the college search process, Kayak aggregates fares from every airline and other websites and allows you to compare prices side by side. They also offer a variety of search options to narrow down your search to filter your flights to fit your criteria.

PRICELINE:
You can’t BYOB on planes anymore due to more restrictive security measures, but you still can NYOP! Priceline’s NYOP (Name Your Own Price) feature is a bargain-hunter’s dream, but it comes with a catch—after bidding on a flight, you don’t have the option to change your itinerary, and you may have to make an extra stop or leave at an unpopular hour. However, if you are flexible, Priceline is the way to go to get the cheapest fares.

STUDENT UNIVERSE:
Remember back when you could only join Facebook if you had a “.edu” email address and were a current college student? For social networking, those days are gone, but at StudentUniverse those days live on! This site partners with major airlines to offer special deals exclusively for current students and university faculty. The student-status is verified by your email address and, sorry general public, but you can’t join the party.

FLYER TALK:
These days there are social networking communities for everyone—from Vampirefreaks to people who enjoy crochet —so we really weren’t surprised to come across a forum dedicated to the topics that would interest the frequent flyer. The users log on to discussion boards and chatrooms, and offer tips on  everything from how to optimize the use of your mileage points to how to score the best deal to how to earn the most reward points for your next trip.

We hope that helps! One last thing— for those of you looking to head to school in the Northeast, check this out, its a pretty great site that provides a plethora of helpful tools to wane your travel woes. Happy trails!

When students return to school in the midst of an election year, they can expect that their politically-minded classmates will be fired up about the presidential campaigns of Senators McCain and Obama.

Some campuses, however, fan the flames of the political firestorm regardless of whether or not it’s time for a major vote.

The Princeton Review ranks the most politically active campuses in its 2009 Best 368 Colleges. If you prefer CNN to ESPN and political cartoons to comic books, then you might feel quite welcome at one of these top ten schools from this year’s ranking:

1.  American University—Washington, DC
2.  George Washington University—Washington, DC
3.  Princeton University—Princeton, NJ
4.  New College of Florida—Sarasota, FL
5.  West Point—West Point, NY
6.  Warren Wilson College—Asheville, NC
7.  Harvard University—Cambridge, MA
8.  George Mason University—Fairfax, VA
9.  Simon’s Rock College of Bard—Great Barrington, MA
10.  Georgetown University—Washington, DC

Almost every college-bound student has heard of the Freshman 15, and if you haven’t yet, you will soon.  The Freshman 15 is talked about often because it’s so prevalent on college campuses throughout the United States.  We felt the need to come to the rescue, and give you CampusCompare’s tips on how to stay in shape on campus.

…but before getting to that, we just wanted to give you heads up about the newest feature released by CampusCompare - the “What Are My Chances?” Calculator!  Be sure to check it out! Without further ado, here is the list:

Sports / Exercise:
One of the easiest ways to make sure you stay in shape while you’re on campus is to get yourself into a good routine of going to the gym.  Ideally, you should go at the same time every day so it becomes a habit.  Work around your class schedule to find an hour every day to exercise, whether it’s to lift weights, hit the elliptical machine, or if it’s nice out, run a few miles around campus.

Another great way to encourage fitness during college is the intramural program.  Your school offers intramural sports as a way to convince you to keep active…so instead of sitting around this fall watching college football every night, get out and play!  We promise no fans will boo you when you drop a pass.

“Lite-n Up” on the Partying:
It’s one thing to take off a few extra pounds by exercising…but wouldn’t it be that much easier if the pounds weren’t there in the first place?  Here’s one way to make that happen: “Lite-n up” when you party.  Now, we’re not claiming that by drinking a twelve-pack of lite beer every night you’ll lose weight.  What we are saying is that next time you order a rum and Coke at the bar, you should ask for a diet and avoid a few extra calories.

Another consequence of drinking, as we’re sure you’re aware, is hunger, a.k.a. the drunk munchies.  So as long as you’re watching what you drink, you might as well watch what you eat when you’re drinking.  Next time you go to the grocery store to pick up some snacks for the dorm room, keep an eye out for something healthy…if you have a bag of baked Lay’s or a box of Wheat Thins around when you come home after a night out drinking, you’ll be less likely to make that 1am call to Domino’s Pizza.

Everyday Activities:
How many times do you leave your dorm and return each day?  I lived on the fourth floor of my Suite building last year, and I would guess that I left the building an average of three or four times per day.  Every day I took the elevator up and down, when I very easily could have walked the three flights of stairs.  It’ll keep your legs looking great in shorts and help you trim a few extra calories.  Do yourself a favor: unless it’s move-in day and you have to get a TV to the top floor, take the stairs.

Does your school allow you to keep a car on campus?  If not, do they offer a good bus service around the local neighborhood?  Either way, if you need to make a trip that’s less than a mile - to the grocery store or the pharmacy, for example - don’t drive or take the bus, hoof it.  Walking is a great way to burn calories and stay active, not to mention it’s much more conducive to socializing than taking a car or bus.

Study Habits:
This may seem like an odd item to put on this list, but you’d be surprised at how big of a factor studying is to putting on weight.  This manifests itself in two forms: stress and study-snacking.  So the first lesson we’re going to put out there for you is, “do not get stressed out!”  This seems pretty cliché, but it is worth repeating.  Do not get stressed out!  Stress is terribly unhealthy, and has many more side-effects than indirect weight gain (which is does).  My roommate was a freak about schoolwork, and let himself get so worked up over every test that he would actually talk about them in his sleep.  This led to way too much studying, and studying mixed with stress leads to lots of study-snacking.  Study-snacking is an easy way to put on lots of weight: usually it involves large quantities of unhealthy food (chips, soda, candy, popcorn, etc) being consumed late at night, which is a one-two punch for an unhealthy disaster.  Study hard, and study often, but don’t let it get you too worked up.

Eating (and Sleeping) Habits:
This is the most obvious item on the list, but healthy eating habits are so rare in college, despite the fact that they are vitally important.  A typical day eating-wise for a college student might include waking up at 1pm, getting some “breakfast” (from my experience most people opt for omelets, with a side of home fries and bacon), going to class, getting some dinner with friends around 7pm (anything from pizza to steak and fries), and then going out drinking.  After the drinking, there’s usually some late-night eating around 2am, which is something like pizza, mozzarella sticks, chicken wings, or homemade PB&J sandwiches if the dining hall is closed.  Sounds great, right?  To be honest, yeah, it is.  But it’s also terribly unhealthy.  Why not wake up at a more reasonable hour, like 10am? Go to the dining hall and have a bowl of cereal and some fresh fruit.  Get some dinner around 8pm – opt for the baked potato instead of fries, and substitute chicken for steak from time to time.  Also, make sure to mix in some grains, with pasta, and some greens with side-veggies if you can.  Go out, but drink lightly.  Curb hunger pangs with some healthy snacks like dry cereal, tortilla chips, or pretzels.  Get to bed a decent hour.

Don’t take these warnings as forbidding you to have fun in college.  Staying out late, partying, drinking, and eating junk food from time to time are all part of the experience. Do it. Enjoy it. Just do it in moderation!